‘Busy building bhujia cos’: Unacademy’s Gaurav Munjal’s blunt take on India’s AI progress goes viral as US & China lead global race

India ranks far behind global leaders in private artificial intelligence (AI) investment, according to a recent LinkedIn post by Unacademy and Airlearn CEO Gaurav Munjal. “$465B investment in AI globally. Less than $1B in India,” Munjal wrote. “We are busy building Bhujia companies while others are dominating in AI.”

His post has sparked a wave of discussion around India's focus on traditional businesses and the slow growth in high-tech innovation compared to global peers.

India ranks 12th in AI investment in 2024

According to the 2025 AI Index published by Stanford University, global private venture capital funding for AI startups reached $131.5 billion in 2024. The United States attracted $109.1 billion of that, followed by China at $9.3 billion and the United Kingdom at $4.5 billion. India stood at the 12th spot with $1.16 billion in private AI investments.



In total, from 2013 to 2024, India’s cumulative private AI investment was $11.29 billion—still less than what the U.S. invested in a single year in 2024. In March 2024, the Indian government approved Rs 10,372 crore for the India AI Mission to be spent over five years.

Online reactions mixed

Munjal’s post drew strong reactions online. Some social media users found humour in the post, while others offered deeper analysis.

“Well, if you look our history of technology, India’s tech boom was built on IT services (Infosys, TCS, Wipro) not product innovation. This somewhere created a generation of engineers skilled in execution, but not in deep product thinking or risk-taking. We became the world’s back office, not its innovation lab,” one user wrote.

Another commented, “We can hope that by 2036 we will arrive on AI as well!”

A third user added, “Yes, India is lagging in AI. There is no need to degrade some other industry, or business to acknowledge the lack of investment in AI industry.”

AI leaders urge focus shift

Munjal’s comments point to a growing concern among Indian tech leaders that the country’s startup ecosystem must evolve beyond traditional consumer sectors. Without a shift in priorities and more private investment, India risks missing out on shaping the future of AI-driven technologies.